New Start

Posted on November 2, 2023 by iansblog

New Start

Another New Studio

After having Covid19 and therefore doing no work between the 2^nd October and the 18^th October, I found I’d reached the point where I didn’t know what I was going to do. Both the summer projects were finished and while I have a list of several things I’m interesting in doing I wasn’t really committed to any of them. So I wanted a New Start.

So on the 18^th I went in to the studio with a view to experimenting with the Redfilm output

I had two large boards ready for drawings and I decided to use these to make drawings to complement the films.

red garden underpainting

18/10/23

This drawing started as ‘red_garden’ and was taken through the underpainting using pastels with water through the day.

red garden ink layer

23/10/23

A week later I’d had delivery of some more Red media including Ink Blocks from Derwent [link] and the drawing was worked up as seen with the addition of some highlights using white charcoal, as seen below.

red garden 23102023

23/10/23

red garden two underpainting

18/10/23

The drawing above was begun as ‘red_garden_two’ and the underpainting was done with pastels and some very cheap pre mixed poster paint.

red garden two ink layer

23/10/23

Again I further worked up the drawing on the 23^rd with the ink blocks and finally added highlights with white charcoal.

red garden two 23102023

23/10/23

red garden three

23/10/23

Also on the 23^rd I started a 3^rd drawing on an A4 board, ‘red_garden_three’ produced in the same way.

studio 23102023

23/10/23

I ended the 23^rd with the studio looking like this and decided to change it when I came back as the mirror experiments with the film didn’t work.

Studio from Window 25102023

25/10/23

So on the 25^th I took down the projection room with a view to making a smaller one to view the edits in isolation.

Studio from Door 25102023

25/10/23

The day was finished with the studio looking like this and I discovered that Covid19 has left me completely knackered after what seems like not much work.

Red Sketchbook 19th October onwards

19/10/23 onwards

While this was going on I continued to work in my attic studio using stills selected from the films to develop ideas in my sketchbook as the starting point for new work going forward. Initially this was envisaged as two dimensional and Virtual work but very quickly grew into physical sculptural form.

Maquettes made from 20th October onwards

20/10/23 onwards

studio from door 30102023

After the 30^th I’d finished the viewing room and made a space to build a large sculpture.

studio from window 30102023

I also did some further work on the red drawings.

red garden three 30102023

This is red garden three, the A1 drawing.

red garden two 30102023

This red garden two,

red garden 30102023

The Red drawings are not finishshed and I’ve started a large sculpture that will be featured in my next post, but that’s my new start.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The October drawings can be seen here

Draw Every Day – October 23

Draw Every Day - October 23 Continuing to draw every day, using sketching pens, japanese ...
See photo »

…and the September images here

Draw Every Day – September 23

Draw Every Day - September 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using ...
See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.

An end of frustration?

Posted on September 24, 2023 by iansblog

An end of frustration?

(Another New Studio)

I finished(?) the NHS project after quite a lot of stress and setbacks. It was still completed on time but I had far less time in the studio.

The interruption of the sculpture project has left me a little non-plussed about the direction of my work and how to find ways forward against the pressure of completion. Ideas reach fruition and then need to be rendered physical when the desire or drive to create is spinning off in its own directions. Today I read an article about Michael Raedecker on Artspace where he says

“Inspiration can come at the most unusual moments; riding on a bus or reading a book. But most of the time you just have to work for it,” he tells Artspace. “Sitting down, making sketches, browsing in catalogues, looking at images, and letting the intelligence of the work guide the selection.”

Its the obviousness of the statement that woke me up, making begets making, so the only way to know what to make is to make.

Earlier in the week I went to see “The Weight of Words” at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.

Leaving aside the lack of overall context beyond the the declaration that the, very broad, selection of artists explore the overlap between sculpture and poetry, the exhibition inevitably questions the very nature of what sculpture is. The works in the exhibition are interesting, poignant and thoughtful in all sorts of ways, they are also often flat, digital projections, printed, photographed and less often strictly three dimensional. The lack of context serves to expand the possibilities of the precept at the heart of the overlap between sculpture and poetry and made me wonder where the notion of concrete poetry sits in relation to this selection of work. The website is very good and the exhibition is on until November so I might go again.

two apples with shadow

When I did get in I worked on apples drawing, adding strong shadows from the studio window.

large rose painted out

I also kept working on the big roses drawing, finally whiting it all out and then adding a drawing of Old English Roses

Old English Roses 120923

Each step of the process has taken more thinking than necessary as I was really disgruntled by the way the lemniscate impinged on everything else I wanted to do.

Old English Roses 120923 addition of red shadows

So after the first drawing I added the red shadows onto the edges of the flowers and then darkened the shadows.

Old English Roses 120923 darkening shadows

The drawing was left for a good few days after this stage.

Old English Roses 150923 white highlights

I had a short window to get back into the space and added some white highlights to the flower heads.

Old English Roses 220923 darker shadows

And then thought about using some stronger colours. So I blacked out the shadows and darkened some areas again but it still wasn’t defined enough.

Old English Roses 220923 stronger colours

So on my next visit, the 22^nd September with the lemniscate out of the way completely I took some oil paints in to use to give the roses much more body. That’s where we are so far. Finished?

Drawing

I’ve ditched Twitter, one too many Musks, but I’ve started to post on Threads as well as instagram.

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The August drawings can be seen here

Draw Every Day – August 23

Draw Every Day - August 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using sketching ...
See photo »

…and the July images here

Draw Every Day – July 23

Draw Every Day - July 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using sketching ...
See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.

Wading Through Mud

Posted on September 3, 2023 by iansblog

Wading Through Mud

(Another New Studio)

This has been a busy couple of weeks since my last post (link to post) with work on the NHS Barnsley project which is progressing but will be the subject of another post when it’s completed.

Distractions aside I continued to work on the large drawing I’d started but didn’t post last time out.

Large Rose 11/08/23

Then (11^th August) it looked like this, there evidence of some changes in the centre at the bottom but it doesn’t work, too structured and neither one thing nor the other.

Large Rose 14/08/23

So I decided it needed some stronger blogs at the top right and some on the left and below to draw it together. This is the state of play on 14^th August.

Large Rose 18/08/23

I decided to move everything up a bit and strengthen the overall force of the circular composition. This is after the 18^th August.

Large Rose 25/08/23

I needed to think about it for a while and I worked on the UKSPF project while I did that but felt like it had no presence so I attacked it with white paint and this is what it looks like on the 25^th August. It hasn’t changed since but illustrates how you can work your arse off and things will still go wrong.

So I’ve left that for a while, who knows how long, Howard Hodgkin used to turn his paintings to the wall for two or more years so I’m not going to be in any hurry.

I have a desire to get much simpler with the physical work – I’m also trying to get back to the world building in VR – so I started to work on a new drawing of apples I have in the studio. I see this as part of a sketchbook with AR elements that will include the birdsnest, and drawings of my Doc Martens and the garden at Tickhill Road.

Two Apples 29/08/23

The first drawing is just the apples on a sheet of white paper and I thought it interesting how the colour balance changed when I added the shadowed wall next to the window.

Two Apples 29/08/23

I’ve completed the UKSPF project bar the publication, the images can be seen in this post “Not Building” the video is a quick run through of how it works. I might reduce the size of the videos as much as I can.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The August drawings can be seen here

Draw Every Day – August 23

Draw Every Day - August 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using sketching ...
See photo »

…and the July images here

Draw Every Day – July 23

Draw Every Day - July 23 Continuing to draw every day, in a new sketchbook using sketching ...
See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to Twitter and Instagram each day.

ian-latham.com

Paintings and Sculpture – Drawing – 3d modelling and virtual environments

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New Start

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Wading Through Mud

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